. >> ambassador david balton is the lead negotiator for the us state department on arctic issues. >> it is opening up and --- and vessels from other nations can be expected in the arctic... but we don't see the arctic as a military venue, it's all about economics. >> if politics were set aside, you'd say well i'd love to go take another look at iraq, or iran, or i'd love to look in libya. but things being what they are, you really can't do that. so the really big expanse that hasn't been tested is these continental shelves in the arctic. >> the world woke up to the potential value of those contenental shelves in august 2007, when moscow released pictures of a russian mini submarine planting a flag on the seabed of the north pole. >> i regard the planting of a russian flag on the seafloor of the north pole to be a publicity stunt. russia was trying to call attention to its claim to the seafloor. but it did not have any legal significance. >> it's just not what's under ground thats atracting attention from the rest of the world. resolute sits on the shore of northwest passage. frozen s